10th Anniversary Rossini Festival With Southeast U.S. Premier of I Puritani

Date: 03/23/2011

Knoxville Opera continues to deliver cultural arts and entertainment to East Tennessee with Italian flair in the form of the widely popular Rossini Festival Italian Street fair. The Rossini Festival provides two opera productions and community events ranging from exhibits to wine tasting and behind-the-scenes tours. The centerpiece is the 10th anniversary of the Italian Street Fair from 11:00am – 9:00pm on Saturday, April 9th covering 12 blocks of downtown Gay Street and the Market Square District.  The Street Fair features mouthwatering Italian foods and beverages, an upscale artisan’s market and live music. Attendees will enjoy constant entertainment from over 30 local and regional dance, musical and arts groups on four outdoor stages on Gay Street and Market Square. An opera festival wouldn’t be an opera festival without opera and this year heralds two outstanding productions with six performances. Knoxville Opera delivers the Southeast U.S. premiere of Bellini’s vocal fireworks extravaganza I Puritani with performances on Friday, April 8th at 8:00pm and Sunday, April 10th at 2:30pm at the Historic Tennessee Theatre.  UT Opera Theatre announces Britten’s Albert Herring with performances on Saturday, April 9th at 2:30 and 8:00pm, Sunday, April 10th at 7:30pm and Monday, April 11th at 7:30pm at Bijou Theatre.

The Knoxville Opera Rossini Festival Italian Street Fair serves as an introduction to the color and excitement of opera to attendees, many of who are experiencing opera for the first time. This is the only Rossini Festival in the U.S. and one of only two in the world, the other of which takes place in Rossini’s birthplace of Pesaro, Italy.  Knoxville’s event is a celebration of the performing, visual and culinary arts with an emphasis on opera and Italian culture featuring a full day of live entertainment with over 800 entertainers, over 100 artisans showcasing superior traditions of the Southeast’s finest craftsmanship and a family-friendly KidsZone of engaging activities on Market Square.  Downtown Knoxville is transformed into an exciting street fair from Cumberland Avenue to Summit Hill. Culinary delights include Mediterranean-style wraps and gyros, Italian ice, Italian sausage, grilled meats, Italian pastries and pasta dishes from over 30 local and regional professionals and restaurateurs. 

Once again, Knoxville Opera partners with Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee and functions as a drop point for donations to help eliminate hunger of an 18 county service area to address the nutritional needs of all people at risk of hunger. Each month Second Harvest feeds an average of 158,000 people.  Donations are rewarded with discounted tickets to Knoxville Opera’s production of I Puritani. KO further enhances its commitment to keeping East Tennessee beautiful by supporting a green initiative. Each year, Knoxville Opera encourages food vendors to increase the use of recyclable or post-consumer waste containers and food ware when serving attendees of the Festival.

Bellini’s last (and arguably, richest) opera I Puritani, is a feast of soaring melodies, glittering coloratura and the highest notes ever sung on the Knoxville Opera stage.  I Puritani is set during the violent days of the 17th century Puritan revolution.  The King has been beheaded and circumstances wreak havoc on the radiant Puritan bride-to-be, Elvira. To save his queen from execution, Lord Arthur is forced to abandon Elvira at the altar. The scorned bride “goes mad” with stupendous vocal pyrotechnics made famous by the legendary Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti. 

Knoxville Opera is honored to have two powerhouse artists on the same stage portraying Elvira and Lord Arthur . “The Metropolitan Opera’s extraordinary Rachele Gilmore and Yeghishe Manucharyan promise to literally peel the paint off the walls of the Tennessee Theatre with their performances.” says Executive Director, Brian Salesky. “These roles demand vocal fireworks of Olympic proportions and I know our audience will be amazed!”
Knoxville audiences will celebrate the return of Ms. Gilmore who scored a resounding triumph in Lucia di Lammermoor last season.  “Her role in I Puritani contains two “mad scenes” and limitless opportunities for bravura embellishments, cadenzas and stratospheric high notes” continued Salesky.  In recent months the soprano from Georgia has made her debuts with the leading opera companies of Munich and Geneva.  She follows I Puritani with her first Rigoletto performance in Detroit and was recently featured in Opera News.

Armenian tenor Yeghishe Manucharyan has recently appeared with San Diego Opera, Minnesota Opera, N.Y.C. Opera, The Opera Orchestra of New York, and the Wexford and Caramoor Opera Festivals.  Mr. Manucharyan will be bringing his expertise as a bel canto specialist to the role of Lord Arthur, notorious for its long, gorgeous melodies and “impossible” high notes!

Tickets for Knoxville Opera productions start at $18 for adults and $13 for students. Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more. Seating is limited, and advance tickets are highly encouraged. For details go to KnoxvilleOpera.com or call 865.524.0795.

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About Knoxville Opera – Knoxville Opera’s mission is to provide the residents of East Tennessee with high quality, locally produced opera and to contribute to the future of the operatic art form by educating the community about opera and its role in our culture.  Knoxville Opera, founded in 1978, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization presenting productions made possible, in part, by generous funding from our patrons, the Tennessee Arts Commission, the City of Knoxville, Knox County, the Arts and Culture Alliance of Knoxville and the Cole Foundation.

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